Shanghai success!
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report January 2016
Overcoming geographic, cultural and language barriers, STLE provides technical education in one of the world’s largest markets for industrial lubricants.
An STLE contingent participated in the 16th China International Lubricants and Technology Exhibition, an event that featured 185 exhibitors and 7,500 attendees. Shown on the left is David Zhou (Runningland Metrology and Testing), co-chair of STLE China Advisory Committee, with STLE President Martin Webster and members of the Runningland team.
THE DISTANCE FROM THE CHINESE CITY OF SHANGHAI TO STLE'S HEADQUARTERS in Chicago is vast, both in geographic and cultural terms. But despite being roughly 7,050 miles away from home on a Thursday morning this past November, I found myself viewing a very familiar scene. Let me explain the event and my experience in some context.
STLE was sponsoring a one-day Fundamentals of Lubrication education course during the 16th China International Lubricants and Technology Exhibition (Inter Lubric China), a popular event that attracts 185 exhibitors and 7,500 attendees. The course was presented in Mandarin by volunteer speakers from OELCHECK China, The Lubrizol Corp., Chevron Oronite, Shell (Shanghai), ExxonMobil (China) and Castrol China. These local experts made six presentations on additives, grease, oil analysis, synthetic lubricants, gears and gear lubrication and base oil technology. The 70 participants were about equally divided between representatives of end-user companies and lubricant suppliers. Course evaluations from both groups were positive.
Looking back on the event, it is now clear to me that this Shanghai success was made possible by a familiar dynamic, which bridged some formidable geographic and cultural gaps. First of these factors was the obvious desire on the part of the attendees to build their technical expertise about lubricants and lubrication. Equally important was the willingness of the technical experts from our six corporate member companies to share their expertise with colleagues under the banner of STLE. This combination enabled STLE to accomplish the strategic goal of introducing an industrial lubrication and lubricants education course to China before 2016.
The trade show provided STLE with additional opportunities to build brand awareness with new audiences. A modest exhibit booth produced a respectable number of inquiries about our organization, including two from Chinese additive supplier companies that have reserved space at the 2016 STLE Exhibition in Las Vegas. At an invitation-only preconference forum, STLE director of professional development Dr. Robert Gresham presented highlights from STLE’s Emerging Trends Report as part of a series of keynote talks by industry leaders.
Inter Lubric China was one aspect of a 12-day trip through three Chinese business centers (Shanghai, Xuzhou and Beijing). The STLE delegation, which was led by President Martin Webster and included Secretary Michael Anderson, kept an aggressive agenda with 14 individual meetings, a meeting of the STLE China Advisory Council and an STLE outreach and information session hosted at the Shell Shanghai technical center.
Looking back on the trip, it’s clear to me that the STLE Connect, Learn, Achieve value proposition literally and figuratively can translate in a way that’s meaningful to China’s technical community. In addition to the good marks from education course participants, we also received positive feedback after company presentations to both private and state-owned enterprises, universities and partner organizations like the Chinese Tribology Institution.
The China expansion is part of a global growth plan for the organization, which was approved by the STLE’s board of directors in January 2014. It emphasizes the use of current capabilities for mission-driven activities in areas outside of STLE’s traditional geographic scope (North America).
While STLE’s current membership base in China is small (fewer than 100 individual and corporate members), the potential audience for future recruiting includes more than 3,000 prospective members who have been identified in the region. A communications and branding campaign includes a Chinese language membership brochure (released in early 2015) and a simple Chinese Website that can be viewed at
www.stle.org.cn. Watch for more about the STLE China initiative in the coming year.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.